


The Hall of Mirrors

by Indigo SJ (AuthorSJ)



Category: Kpop - Fandom, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 15:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10516530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorSJ/pseuds/Indigo%20SJ
Summary: Seungcheol and Annie* get bored from their class trip and ditch it only to discover a little more than magical abandoned carnival.





	

**Author's Note:**

> *I chose the name Annie because no specific name was specified with the request... so the anonnie got Annie.
> 
> This work has not been edited and is presented in its first-draft form. Sorry for any errors or mistakes, I literally didn't even read this a second time. I will edit this at a later point, probably.

 

            Why did they even sign up for this trip in the first place? Oh, that’s right, because Annie had wanted to go so badly, but he could see that she was just as bored as he was. “Interpretational Art”, what a joke. The art in this ‘museum’ seemed more like a pile of trash welded together than anything- it was as if little to no thought had been put into each ‘masterpiece’ presented before them. Shoving his hands into his jacket pocket for the umpteenth time, he felt nothing but lint and the candy wrapper from three days ago that he forgot to throw out. As the small group went from piece to piece, “admiring the beauty and physique of each piece” his tolerance for the trip was cutting horrendously thin.  

            “I’m gonna leave.” He whispered to Annie who looked over at him in a sort of silent protest- she was never one to break the rules and hated it when he would drag her along when he did.

            “We’ll get in trouble if we do that.”

            “ _We?_ ” he snickered and was shushed by the other group members, his voice hushed down, “Didn’t know you were coming along for the ride.”

            “I can’t take you any-” She huffed and turned to complete her statement but he was already whispering to the professor and throwing a thumb over his shoulder to gesture his leave from the trip. Annie’s eye widened as he then threw a glance at her and the professor nodded, patting him on the back.

            If there was one thing he was good at- it was talking to people and everyone loved him to boot. His natural charm and charisma made him an easily likable character, maybe that’s why she liked hanging out with him so much. Catching her in her thoughts, he ruffled the hair on top of her head and then lightly guided her as they walked towards the exit.

            “Ready to go, sport?” he smiled gingerly. _Add that to the list of nicknames he’s given me._

            “What did you tell the professor, anyway?” she asked as they took their first breath of fresh, outside air. The chilly fall weather felt good in her lungs.

            “I told him you had a test to study for but you were too scared to ask for permission to leave on your own and that you were also too scared to go back on the bus by yourself.”

            “Why you little!” she grit her teeth and he laughed as he ruffled her hair again, letting her go.

            “Got us out, di’n’t it?” he smiled, “I saw how bored you were in there, don’t try and hide it.”

            “Even if I _was_ bored, do you know how damaging it is to just leave a class group trip like that?”

            He shrugged and began walking down the sidewalk.

            “Uh, hello, isn’t our campus that way?”

            “Oh, I’m sorry, would you like to speak up a bit, I’m a tad def in this ear.” He tapped the right side of his face as he continued to walk.

            With a huff, she followed him and when she caught up to him she could tell he was holding in his laugh by the bite of his lip and he lightly elbowed her.

            “You need to loosen up a little bit.” He beamed.

 

            As they walked they could hear a clock tower ringing in the distance, signaling the hour and a light breeze followed. It was nice to walk together, even though neither of them would admit it- they enjoyed each other’s companies.

            Over a bridge they went and he stopped for a moment, looking into the distance. He was mesmerized by something and Annie turned to look. There was a sight unfamiliar to them, well, the entire region was unfamiliar to them having never been in the area before. It wasn’t unlike Sungcheol to wander off and find new places (especially if dogs were involved), in fact, it would have been unlike him to go straight home. Every moment he could, he was off in search of a new adventure, a new rock to overturn- and this was just it.

            “I wonder what’s down there.” He pointed to a tunnel with graffiti in and around it. “I’m gonna check out the different artwork in there.”

            Without any hesitation, he ran to the edge of the bridge and made his way down the hill to where it started, leaving Annie at the top by herself.

            “That’s dangerous, something could come out of there and hurt you!”

            “What could possibly hurt me? Besides, it’s not that long,” she could hear his voice echoing in the tunnel as he disappeared inside of it.

            “We should go back!” she yelled but there was no answer and in a slight panic she ran down the hill after him and looked into the tunnel herself. It was a bit dark, but there was a light at the other side and she could see his figure- even more so when he pulled out his phone to use it as a flashlight.  

            “Coming along?” he turned to her and she shook her head.

            “Good, then you can wait there as I go on.”

            “This really isn’t a good idea!” she yelled again and he put his phone away, and walked out on her end of the tunnel.

            “Then, why don’t we go together?” he smiled and held out his hand gracefully, as if he had done this every day of his life- holding her hand that is. He seemed so unusually comfortable with the gesture, could it be, she thought, that he was just as scared as she was? _Impossible_.

            She hesitantly took his hand and he held it tight, pulling her close and putting his arm around her shoulder. Shaking, Annie held tightly onto his hand and pulled it forward, so it hung around her neck- not minding how close the two had become but suddenly, she could hear him laugh.

            “I’m gonna need this hand later,” he spoke into her hair, “so I would like it if you didn’t squeeze it to death… and you can open your eyes.”

            Flustered, she opened her eyes and saw that they had already reached the end and what a view it was! It was very unexpected and it awed her.

            “See, look where it brought us!” he flung his arms wide.

            Was it… a beach? They were still in Seoul, how could this be possible.

            “What a beautiful lake.” He beamed and lightly jogged to the water’s edge.

            “How did we end up here?” she asked and he shrugged, and turning to look at her, his eyes grew wide.

            “Oh my God.” He beamed, “Look behind you! It’s a carnival!”

            “What?” she turned around and sure enough, there was a carnival at the edge of the water sitting in a pier.

            “Let’s go check it out, I bet it would be a lot of fun!”

            “Seungcheol the sun is setting, we should get home.”

            “We’ll only stay for a few minutes.” He said as he started to prance towards it with a jolly gait.

            Following behind, his whistling became a distraction and they came upon the carnival in no time. For once, he was quiet and Annie felt herself shake involuntarily- it was abandoned.

            Turning around, he gave a bright smile to her and held out his hand and taking it, they walked into the carnival grounds together. It looked only a few years abandoned, but they could both see that weather had not been kind to the facilities.

            “I wonder what happened.” She whispered in fear of disrupting something.

            “Maybe it was sinking?”

            “Maybe.” Annie’s eyes darted this way and that, unsure of everything around her.

            He gave her hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance as they continued to walk further into the carnival grounds, observing different rusted out rides and ripped tent fabrics. The ground underneath had been overtaken by sand, and their shoes were sinking slightly in it, making each step cumbersome and tiring. They came upon a cage filled with water at the bottom and within it were overturned bumper cars.

            “I _love_ bumpercars.” Annie’s eyes glistened as she looked at them.

            “Let’s take a photo in that one, it doesn’t seem too bad!” he said as he was already guiding them through the gate.

            “No, it could be dangerous!”

            “Annie, stop thinking too much about it. Besides, I’m scarier than anything we could ever find in a place like this.”

            Helping her get into the car first, he followed suit and took out his phone, and they snapped a few photos together and he began to turn the wheel this way and that, making all kinds of car sounds and bumping into Annie making her laugh and forget her worries.

            Getting out, they continued to walk through the carnival and came upon a relatively untouched tent with the label “House Of Mirrors” at the end of the pier. Sensing Annie didn’t want to go in, Seungcheol passed it by, vouching to go in at a later time.

            “Don’t you want to go in?” she looked up at him.

            “You mean, you’d go? I for sure thought you’d be scared.”

            “I won’t be scared …if you’re there.” She muttered the last part.

            “What was that?” he definitely heard her, but wanted to hear her say it again- his heart was racing.

            “I… won’t be scared if you’re there.” Annie repeated a bit louder and his excitement grew.

            Squeezing her hand, he spun around and pulled her along quickly until they were in front of the door once more. From the outside, they couldn’t see the tattered rooftop, which allowed the sunlight to glitter in and reflect from the hundreds of mirrors. Together they walked through, and Seungcheol was whispering something to himself as they did. Annie listened in and she could hear him saying, ‘left, right, right’- he was keeping track of the way out and she suddenly felt an ease of mind. As they continued, however, she noted that it was getting darker.

            “We should go out, right?” he smiled down at her. Annie nodded.

            As soon as he turned around and took the first step, however, his shoe splashed in a puddle.

            “Hm?” he took a look down, “There wasn’t a puddle there before.”

            “Look!” Annie pointed at the ground- water was coming in from the floor boards fast: they hadn’t accounted for the tide coming in.

            “Let’s go quickly.” He nodded and pulled her along with him and after a few turns, paused.

            “What’s wrong?” she asked.

            “Haven’t we been here before?” he looked back at her and she couldn’t give him an answer- her mind was at her ankles as they were being bitten by cold waters rising fast.

            Fighting their way through the quickly rising lake beneath their feet, Seungcheol went this way and that before pausing once more, exhausted. It was then that the floor beneath him gave way, and sent him plummeting into the dark waters below. Annie froze, unsure what to do. Seungcheol swam to the surface again, and slicked back his hair out of his eyes and pulled himself back onto the floorboards.

            “Annie, let’s try to get out as quickly as we can, this isn’t safe anymore.” He grabbed her wrist and began to run forward and he heard her laugh.

            “Why did you laugh?” he asked as he paused at another intersection of mirrors, the icy water was cold on his knees and it ached him.

            “I didn’t laugh.”

            “Oh, don’t play with me, now.” He shook his head.

            “I swear I didn’t laugh.”

            “I laughed.” A voice came from within the mirrors and his whole body froze in fear.

            “Oh my God what was that?” Annie muffled her worries and put her free hand over her mouth.

            “How do we get out of here?” he mumbled.

            “Left.” The voice called and he followed it but it laughed again, “ _My_ left.”

            “Stop playing with me!” he yelled and fought hard against the water- the resistance exhausted him.

            Annie was tired and her pace was slowing while he was fighting with all of his might, but they were running out of both time and sunlight.  The water was up to their waist and they were fighting hard to get free, but both were tired, as well as tired from holding their phones above the water to use as flashlights. It  was then, after all that time, that they saw the light at the end.

            “Wait…” Seungcheol stopped.

            “Why are you stopping?” Annie cried.

            “Why would there be a light, this place is run down.”

            “I don’t care go towards it, please.” She begged and they trudged on until they did, indeed, come to the entrance of the hall once more.

            They were amazed- the entire place seemed like it had never been run down! All of the lights were glistening and the carnival music was playing! A big Ferris Wheel had appeared seemingly out of nowhere- certainly such a large structure couldn’t have been unnoticed by them.   But it didn’t matter- they wanted out.  Walking in the direction they had initially come from, they found that a large gate now stood in their way and the gate was locked tight.

            “Can we climb it?” Annie looked up, distressed.

            “No, you can’t climb it.” The same voice from the hall of mirrors called from behind them and shaking, Seungcheol turned around as he pushed Annie behind him.

            “What do you want?” he stammered.

            “I want to play a game.” The specter said as it showed itself. “Win any three games against me and I’ll let you guys go. If not, you’ll have to work at my carnival for… forever. How does that sound?”

            “No,” Seungcheol shook his head, “Just let us go home- at least let her go home.”

            “Fine, it’s you I want anyway.” It smirked and suddenly he found himself facing the fence, with Annie on the other side. “Now, should we play a game?”  

**Author's Note:**

> This could end here but I'm not sure. I could make it a 2-chapter. It was fun, because I was watching scary videos while writing haha


End file.
